"Typical Downtown, Okay Ranch Home Neighborhood"

Downtown Castro Valley is, like most downtowns, the place to go for shopping and restaurants in Castro Valley. You will find the usual things that you would expect from virtually any suburb: drugstores like Rite Aid and restaurants like Chipotle and fast food places like Taco Bell.

That is not all that there is here of course. You will also find truly local businesses like KO Websites, Crush Comics and Kurt Burton Photography.

There is even an okay bar, Spanky’s, that I hear has dancing, but where I’ve never actually been.

Within the crescent shape of the neighborhood, south of Castro Valley Blvd., you will find a relatively standard 1950’s era neighborhood, filled with well-kept Ranch homes on relatively quiet streets. There is even the occasionally compelling front yard presentation with a home having a Buddha statue and painted pink garage—as I saw down one street in this neighborhood the last time I was here. (Check out this address on Google Maps if you want to give it a gander: 20956 San Miguel Avenue, Castro Valley.)

The median home price here is around $300K, with prices ranging from $200 to $400, basically.

The exception to this would be the trailer park on the eastern end of Downtown. This is just a pretty typical trailer park with all that you expect from such a place—asphalt lanes between closely plotted trailers.

And there are also a sprinkling of apartment buildings in the area as well—some of the newest structures as far as I can tell.

Oh yeah, and we should not forget that this is the location of the BART station, so if you live here you are perfectly positioned for commuting to Oakland, Pittsburgh or SF without ever having to jump into a car.

Crime is a bit of an issue along Castro Valley Road—where it is sort of an epicenter.

So it is a pretty active area with pros and cons for those looking to set down roots.